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User blog:Pinkguy the b0ss/The Best Donkey Kong Country Songs
Welcome to another entry in my "Donkey Kong Country Series," which is in quotes because it's not really a series, but I've been doing these since these games have been on my mind recently. They're overall great games (with DKC2 being my favorite of the three), but that's irrelevant to these lists. In this post, I will be listing my top 10 favorite songs from each game in the original Donkey Kong Country trilogy. Let's begin. Donkey Kong Country Honorable Mentions Life in the Mines - This is a pretty good underground theme, using pickaxes as ambience and percussion. Even though many people do consider it the best in the game, personally, I only consider it an honorable mention. Minecart Madness - Holy crap, this one is intense. I really like this one, if this list were more than a top 10 it would probably by 12th on my list, but due to that, I can't include it on the list. Northern Hemispheres - This track is very foreboding and atmospheric, and fits the ice levels very well. However, since it's not as much a song as ambience, it doesn't make my list. The List 10. Ice Cave Chant - This is a very catchy song. It also has just the right splash of ambience, with it sounding just like you're in a shiny, icy crystal cave. Too bad this song is only featured once in the game. 9. DK Island Swing - This one is atmospheric. It starts off with rich, layered jungle ambience. A drum beat slowly emerges from the ambience, and eventually the ambience fades as the drum and frantic melody take over. The song soon slows down, going into a melody which sets the mood for nighttime, which it does become at the end of the stage, Jungle Hijinks. 8. Bonus Room Blitz - What a perfect song for the bonus rooms, which are all about having a fun distraction from the intense and challenging stages. This song captures that feeling so perfectly. 7. Simian Segue - This is a catchy, laid-back melody which fits the map screen pretty well. 6. Treetop Rock - Similarly to Simian Segue in that it has a catchy melody, but this one is a bit more upbeat. It fits the intense jumping on tires above bottomless pits on nothing but a moving platform strangely well. 5. Forest Frenzy - There's something about the forest themes of this game that just really stuck with me. Maybe because of their intensity or upbeat melodies, but I digress. Forest Frenzy makes it this high due to its slightly more memorable tune, which reminds me of Native Americans in a war with each other, or the forest battles from the Revolutionary War. Either way, I get a tribal / guerilla warfare feeling from this one. 4. Fear Factory - I swear, David Wise is the master of making badass level themes. This music perfectly fits the factory levels, given that they are some of the most badass levels in the game. It's a shame that there aren't more of them. 3. Gangplank Galleon - This, for me at least, deserves the number three spot on this list. The song starts off with an upbeat sea chanty as you enter the ship's deck, and King K. Rool appears, throwing his crown and charging at you. Soon enough, though, the song drastically changes to a badass melody as the boss fight shifts from being mere child's play to a decently challenging final boss. It's probably my second-favorite boss theme of the trilogy. 2. Credits Concerto - This makes the adventure you just went on feel all the more vast and complete, due to this song being so calming and relaxing. It perfectly compliments the ending cutscene aswell, with the humorous animation of Donkey and Diddy messing with each other at the end. 1. Aquatic Ambience - One word, and that is atmosphere. This is one of the most calming, atmospheric tracks in the entire game. Whenever I'm stressed out, a listen or two to this is able to help me get over it. I personally believe this is the best water level soundtrack ever, even surpassing Dire Dire Docks ''by just a little bit. Donkey Kong Country 2 : Diddy's Kong Quest Honorable Mentions Forest Interlude - A very enchanting song for the forest stages, but it's not on the list for personal reasons. Flight of the Zinger - This reminds me of Fear Factory and some of the DKC3 soundtrack, it would probably be at about my 13th spot on a list of the full soundtrack. Bayou Boogie - This is good especially because of the drum beat of "In the Air Tonight" in it, and is all around a decent song besides that. Disco Train - This song fits the rollercoaster stages very well, giving the feeling that you're in an amusement park. Token Tango - Damn, the DKC games have really good bonus room themes. This is my personal second-favorite bonus room theme, the first being Bonus Room Blitz from the first game. The song is one of the many remixes of DK Island Swing in the games. Klomp's Romp - Just like the first game, what an excellent way to begin. This song begins with atmospheric ocean waves, and a catachy sea chanty eventually overtakes it. Soon, the chanty becomes more upbeat, just like DK Island Swing's melody. Snakey Chantey - This one is quite good in my opinion, you know why? It is essentially a remix of Gangplank Galleon, one of the last game's best tracks. I think of it as an alternate version, where the sea chantey is the entire song. In reality, it is a mashup of Gangplank Galleon and Klomp's Romp, so what's not to like? In a Snow-Bound Land - This one is relaxing, and gives off the feeling of a frozen-over land, and why wouldn't it? It's featured in the ice levels, and it's name is "In a Snow-Bound Land" for God's sake, so of course it is going to sound wintry. The List 10. Donkey Kong is Saved - This, for me, is tied with Credits Concerto in terms of credits themes. It has a similar feeling to Gangplank Galleon, but with less percussion. It's a bit more on the intense side whereas Credits Concerto was more soothing. Either way, I like this song a lot, and it is the perfect song to end this masterpiece of a game on. 9. Welcome to Crocodile Isle - Intense and foreboding. That's all I really have to say. This may actually be my favorite map screen music from the trilogy, due to its sheer intensity. 8. Crocodile Cacophony - This song is intense and badass, just like Gangplank Galleon. It may be a bit better than that masterpiece in my opinion. Overall, this may be the best final boss theme in the trilogy. 7. Funky the Main Monkey - I never hear any people talk about this one, and I'm surprised, this is a catchy, upbeat tune, and is actually my favorite of all the Funky Kong themes. I think this one is very underrated and deserves the same amount of respect as some of the other, more talked-about masterpieces of this game. Speaking of more talked-about songs... 6. Stickerbrush Symphony - I call this one the "Aquatic Ambience of DKC 2," even though it's not on the water levels. It's quite relaxing and gets stuck in your head quite easy. It really fits those challenging bramble levels surprisingly well. 5. Hot Head Bop - This one is quite tense, and it perfectly fits the volcano levels. The song keeps me on the edge of my seat whenever I hear it ingame, and it is now the song that I think of whenever volcanoes are mentioned. 4. Krook's March - Holy crap, this is kick-ass. This song is tense, atmospheric, and strangely serene at points, especially the part when the melody of "DK Island Swing" kicks in in the background. The instrumentation is just as great as everything else in this game's soundtrack, and it isn't called a "march" for nothing. 3. Boss Bossanova - Wow. If I thought some of the other songs in these games were badass, then this takes the cake. Just by hearing this song, you can feel the atmosphere. Like the other songs, it perfectly compliments the stages it plays in (in this case the boss fights). 2. Mining Melancholy - Just like Life in the Mines, which was an honorable mention in the previous list, this one makes the number two spot. I think it is significantly better than Life in the Mines, and that one is a great song on its own. The pickaxes provide even stronger ambience and percussion, and it is so good, it was remixed in DKC 3, which I will get to later. 1. Jib Jig - This is one of the many outstanding pirate themes from the game, and it grew on me the more times I heard it, getting stuck in my head sometimes. This, along with its traditional Irish flair that I love, makes it my favorite DKC 2 song. Donkey Kong Country 3 : Dixie Kong's Double Trouble Honorable Mentions Wrinkly 64 - I couldn't go without mentioning this one. It is just the Peach's Castle theme from SM64, which is good in its own right, and Evelline Fischer did a good job of making a 16-bit rendition, but it would only be about my 11th spot if this list were longer. The List 10. Sub-Map Shuffle - This is honestly the weakest of the map screen themes, but like Water World, that's not to say it's bad. This isn't the best map-screen theme in this game (there are actually two, by the way), but it's far from being a bad track. 9. Water World - This is probably the weakest of the underwater themes, but just because I think that doesn't mean this is a bad song. I think it's foreboding and atmospheric, and deserves the number 10 spot. 8. Cascade Capers - This is a pretty good mountain stage theme, but not the best, and you'll see why later. It's atmospheric and definetly sets the mood right. 7. Mill Fever - This one reminds me of Treetop Rock a little bit. It's jazzy and catchy, and has similar instrumentation and melodies to that song. Want to know what else it reminds me of? The Beatles' ''Can't Buy Me Love. Is it really any wonder why this song is on the list? 6. Bonus Time - This is a catchy and upbeat bonus theme, just like the others, but it's probably the weakest of them (just because Token Tango wasn't on the last list doesn't mean that this is automatically better because it is on a list), but as I said before and will say again, I am not inferring that this is bad. If it were, why would it even be on the list, and on the number 6 spot? 5. Wrinkly's Save Cave - This is a calming save theme. It may actually (no joke) be my favorite of the save game themes. It's just the right combination of catchy and relaxing. 4. Nuts and Bolts - This theme is just badass. It really fits those factory levels well, sounding intimidating and giving off a sense of danger. 3. Brothers Bear - This is a catchy rock-and-roll-style song, and it fits the bear brothers quite well. The only negative is that it's quite short, and I wish it was a bit longer. Other than that, this track is outstanding and a bit underrated. 2. Rockface Rumble - Remember how I said Mining Melancholy was so good, it got a remix in DKC 3? Well, here it is : Rockface Rumble. If you listen closely, you can actually hear the similarity. Since this is a remix of that song, it pretty much automatically gets a high spot, but what this song did - take something great on its own and use its assets to so something new - this one definetly deserves my number 2 spot. It's not nearly as good as Mining Melancholy, but it deserved recognition aswell. 1. Boss Boogie - Wow. Just wow. This one is dark, foreboding, and really makes you feel like something bad is going to happen. It fits perfectly with the industrial theme of DKC 3 as a whole, and, as I said, keeps you on the edge of your seat. Want something that will really make you agree that this song is dark and disturbing? Look up the video "Donkey Kong Country 3 - Error Game Screen," watch the whole video without pausing, scrolling down, or looking away from the video, at night. Enjoy your dreams. Conclusion I hoped you enjoyed hearing my opinion, and would definetly like to hear yours in the comments. Thanks for reading my Shreks, and see you in the next blog post, which may either be a Fuck this Shit or another entry on the Donkey Kong Country trilogy. Category:Blog posts